<p>For those of you who are already in college, if you got into a school where your SAT score was below average, was there really a difference gradewise or in the difficulty of classes versus those students who had gotten a good SAT score (for that school)?</p>
<p>I'm not sure if that's too confusing, so let's say average SAT score for College X is 1900. Would the student that got an 2000 really get better grades / get by more easily than a student with an 1800?</p>
<p>gracias :)</p>
<p>I don't have data on-hand, but I've heard (from a relative who works in university administration) that their institution sees absolutely no correlation between SATs and college GPAs.</p>
<p>thanks, it's odd that such a big deal is made about it then...</p>
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I don't have data on-hand, but I've heard (from a relative who works in university administration) that their institution sees absolutely no correlation between SATs and college GPAs.
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<p>Then that must be a very unusual place, indeed. The idea that a group of 100 students who got a 2400 on the SAT and a group of 100 students who got, say, a 650 on the SATs would perform just as well seems far fetched, to say the least.</p>
<p>The independent studies show a correlation that's pretty strong for the social sciences, but all those studies (to the best of my knowledge) have been flawed. They didn't take into account differences in grading and competition from one school to the next, or the differences in the difficulty of one course of study vs. another.</p>
<p>Tarhunt;
Your example is kinda on the extreme side. I am pretty sure a 2200 will do as well as a 2400, but maybe just a bit lacking in work ethic.</p>
<p>From what anecdotes I've heard, everyone can do well in college if they try. I personally know a kid at Notre Dame who got a 1200ish(out of 1600, of course) on his SAT, but got in on legacy. Obviously this is rather low for ND, but he's doing fine. He has a 3 point something and isn't really struggling. From what I gather, the hard part about "competitive" colleges isn't school itself, but just the admissions process.</p>
<p>lol well it all depends. challenging schools will be difficult. I told a teacher that went to Dartmouth or Cornell in my school that "the hardest part is getting in" and he just shot me down and was like "it's nothing like that; the competitive schools will challenge you, blah blah"</p>
<p>then again i don't see the big hype surrounding notre dame so =P</p>
<p>I think if the SAT scores are close (like your example), the defining factor will be how motivated the student is. In my experience, there are students with top scores who don't work up to their potential and there are students with ok scores who work hard, do all their readings, attend all their classes, ask for help when they need it and study like crazy. I suspect the latter group do better.</p>
<p>OTOH, I don't believe that all schools/programs are equal - that a Bio 1 class is the same at all schools. The core content may be the same but the teaching, expectations and grading are not the same. I know some people won't agree but I've been to colleges where the courses were easier than my HS ones. I've also been to schools that challenged me. When I was 17, I was convinced that I couldn't (or didn't want to) handle a top top school - but you know what, I'll always wonder. I was only 16 when I was applying to colleges and I simply wasn't confident enough to take the chance so I'll never know how it would have worked out. But I learned I hated easy classes and easy schools - and easy jobs.</p>
<p>My son had near perfect SAT I and IIs, 5s on almost all of his 9 APs and was in the top 2% of his class. According to him, he did not work that hard in HS but college is an entirely different situation. He says he's never seen kids study so hard and so much as he sees at Brown. I don't expect to see all As...</p>
<p>But if you like to be challenged and are willing to work hard, don't eliminate schools because you aren't in the top %. Some kids like taking things a bit easier and prefer being the big fish in the small pond. Figure out which type you are. My son always did his worst work in his easiest classes. He was bored and unmotivated so his choice was obvious. Figure out which environment is best for you. That's where you have the best chance to succeed.</p>
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Tarhunt;
Your example is kinda on the extreme side. I am pretty sure a 2200 will do as well as a 2400, but maybe just a bit lacking in work ethic.
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<p>Correct, but that's not the point. The point to which I was responding is that there is absolutely NO correlation between SAT scores and college GPAs. If there is absolutely NO correlation, then a 650 is every bit as good as a 2400, correct?</p>
<p>Tarhunt - what I was trying to say was, there's no correlation within institutions. If a student who got a 650 total and a student who got a 2400 total were at the same school and taking the same classes, of course the student who got the 2400 would do better. But there's no way that those two students would end up at the same university. If you're looking at students at the same university, with roughly 300 point variation in SAT scores - which I think is what the OP was asking about - then there is no correlation. Does that make more sense?</p>
<p>There've also been some studies done at SAT-optional schools that tracked the college GPAs of students who submitted SAT scores versus those who didn't. They found that even though, as one would expect, the latter group had lower SAT scores, they performed just as well in college. Again, these are all studies done within schools.</p>
<p>It should be added that it may depend on what major you are in and what classes you are taking. Even at highly selective schools, some disciplines are tougher than others, with less grade inflation, etc. So, an English major who chooses his classes carefully will probably not see much difference in grades from his classmate with 150 higher points on CR, while the same may not be true for the math major.</p>
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From what I gather, the hard part about "competitive" colleges isn't school itself, but just the admissions process.
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<p>Not for me, it wasn't. Getting in was the easy part. It's going to depend on the college, though.</p>
<p>While SAT isn't a great prdictor of grades, I think it's probably a more valid measure of how much additional value a student might contribute to discussions, debates, and informal dialogues with peers.</p>
<p>I'm at Duke with a slightly below average SAT (2150, relative to the school). I find the classes (engineering) extremely challenging, much moreso than high school. I'm trying to get a 3.0 this semester. However, I feel I am middle of the pack in terms of raw talent.</p>
<p>To use Engineering as a case study, people who got stellar SAT math scores will generally immediately start off later on in an Engineering sequence (with what is generally the second or even third semester math course), and people with lower or "average" SAT scores will start at the beginning. So in that situation the two groups don't even compete against each
other in the same classes.</p>
<p>As for other classes where a 2200 and 1800 will compete against one another? I can't say for sure, but I honestly think that a 400 score difference (or even 300 or 200) would indicate some larger difference - if not in overall intelligence than in study habits or motivation - though I think it's likely that at least a small part of the difference is intelligence.</p>
<p>Ok I'll be honest. I did get a below SAT score compared to others at my school but my GPA hasn't suffered from that. (most likely becaues I have no math, english, or writing classes (well i had it last sem). And i think your major has alot to do with your GPA along with the type of school.
I have 3.6 GPA but my major's not hard~ so... whatever.</p>